Tears Into Snow
by Jewel1
Summary: [Ruriko&Ukiya] Dusk settles on two lovers.


"Gatekeepers" belongs to Hiroshi Yamaguchi / GONZO. Standard disclaimers apply. Comments and criticisms welcome! Domo!  
  
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Tears Into Snow  
By Jewel  
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"They all walk their own paths, live their own lives. A journey without farewells, a beginning without end."  
  
-"Rurouni Kenshin," by Nobuhiro Watsuki (original Japanese text translated by Maigo-chan)  
  
It was one of the last days.   
  
Graduation approached with swift, impatient steps in all its garb and glory, bearing symbols of triumph, relief, and of course, sadness. It was not easy to close the doors to familiar rooms, nor is it to detach oneself from that to which he had long adhered. As they say, "Growth is painful."  
  
Ukiya Shun tried very hard not to keep track of the time, choosing to remain in a state of fake but nonetheless comfortable nonchalance. He wanted to pretend that he could somehow transform fleeting moments into something permanent, simply because they were too beautiful to let go. So he held on to the present in a white-knuckled grip and dismissed the future like a specter that threatened to change his life.  
  
It was like lingering in bed on a cold, rainy morning, feigning unawareness of time. But even as he tried to delude himself, he still knew.  
  
All sleepers and dreamers all have to wake up sometime.  
  
But for now...  
  
---  
  
"We have lost even this twilight.   
No one saw us this evening hand in hand   
While the blue night dropped on the world."  
  
--Pablo Neruda, "Clenched Soul"  
  
  
They sat on the lawn, watching the world gradually fade into darkness.  
  
The sky was painted a pretty shade of purple, lightening towards the west where the sun dipped low, bathed in a brilliant haze of red and orange. Cirrus clouds moved towards it in a playful yet leisurely fashion, hiding it from sight in its white, feathery embrace. But the sun was persistent, and it reached out through its captor's slits, white ethereal light streaking across the violet expanse. Shadows formed underneath the clouds and on the ground below, giving the sky an unearthly appearance--an illusion of heaven's gate opening in welcome, or God's hand reaching out to the lowly Earth.  
  
On the street, two children were playing. Shun watched as the boy ran after the girl, peals of laughter trailing after them like tinkling kite bells. He listened to the rapid, regular beats of shoes against cement, going faster, and faster... ending with a heavy thud. The laughter stopped, suspended in the air like wind-forsaken chimes. 'One, two, three...' he counted silently, in synchrony with his own heart. The girl started crying. He faintly heard the boy murmur a reassurance as he helped her to her feet, worry evident in his gaze. The sobs then became subdued, fading away with twilight's dying sighs. He saw her give the boy a tremulous smile and a timid "Arigato," he cheeks turning as pink as the sky.   
  
Sunset always held such infinite memories.  
  
"Ruri-pe," he whispered wistfully as he sidled closer, his hand seeking hers on the soft grass.   
  
She seemed to have heard him, for she leaned closer to him, nestling her head in the crook of his neck, twining her fingers with his. "I was thinking the same thing.  
  
He rested his cheek against her dark head, inhaling the sweet fragrance in her hair. Darkness was closing in on them like a blanket, and the children had gone into their homes, leaving them with no one else but the deep purple shadows of dusk.  
  
Such precious solitude.  
  
He absently rubbed his free hand against the fabric of his pants, making sure it was clean when it touched her. Caressing her cheek, he murmured, "I want to kiss you."  
  
She slowly turned her face towards him, meeting his lips, releasing hold of his hand. His hand moved to stroke her hair while the other traced sinuous patterns on the small of her back.   
  
A heady sensation washed over him as timid fingers gently brushed against his shoulders, leaving warm and lonely paths in their wake as they traveled to the sides of his neck then back again. Their tongues met with agonizingly slow and fluid strokes, converging then retreating in a dance of unspoken fears and unspeakable sadness.  
  
Her sadness.   
  
It was as if Yukino-chan had come to him once more, staring at him with her dark, penetrating eyes amidst that steady fall of snow.  
  
'A little girl is crying.'  
  
For a moment, he was back in that dark alley, seeing Ruriko so close to getting killed through the abysses of Yukino's eyes. He had never been so afraid in his entire life. He had run, hoping, hoping so hard that he was strong enough to save her.   
  
Please, please don't cry...  
  
He gently broke the kiss, holding her face reverently, and leaned his forehead against hers. "Tell... me..."  
  
She pulled away slowly, nodding her head. She heaved a deep breath, and took both his hands, which were as damp as her own. "I'm leaving..."  
  
He froze.  
  
She bowed her head closed her eyes. "After graduation... I'm going study... in England... I don't..." she whispered brokenly.  
  
The world had fallen silent. The darkness was complete, for not even the moon or the stars had dared to show their countenance. He had often wondered if there were enough stars in her sky, or if she was looking at the sky as he did. But the stars didn't matter, of course, for they were only beautiful once she had deigned to like them. She was infinitely beautiful than the stars, the sunsets, and all the flowers in the park and in Okaasan's garden put together. He had _always_ known that. Even back then, when he had often made her cry. And now...  
  
'I'm not a sniveler anymore.'  
  
He realized then with terrible dread, that she would not cry, despite the sadness that flickered in her fervent gaze. She had never wept since that day in that old junkyard where they used to play as children. Another sunset, a long time ago.  
  
The moment she swore to change... her tears must have turned to snow, he thought bitterly.   
  
'Neither do I.'  
  
Blindly, he took her hand and followed her into his own apartment. Their entwined shadows waltzed across the street as they walked.   
  
Again, that slow, bittersweet dance.   
  
---  
  



End file.
